Sectional hollow file construction

ABSTRACT

VARIOUS STANDARDIZED SHAPED SECTIONS, EACH HAVING A U SHAPED PORTION ON ONE END AND AN ANGLE FORMED ON THE OPPOSITE END FOR SNAPPING TOGETHER IN CONSTRUCTING HOLLOW FILES OF A DESIRED SIZE AND SHAPE. RAISED PORTIONS AND PROJECTING TABS AT THE SECTIONS ENDS ARE TWO EMBODIMENTS THAT PREVENT SLIDING WHEN THE SECTIONS ARE SNAPPED TOGETHER.

Sept. 28, 1971 J. A. cooN ETAL 1 3,608,168

SECTIONAL HoLLow FILE CONSTRUCTION Filed Oct. 5, 1969 H69 F/G. /0

64 52 50 *l y wmmm INVENmRs.

United States Patent SECTIONAL HOLLOW FILE CONSTRUCTION James A. Coon, 929 Drever St., West Sacramento, Calif.

95691, and Elwin Theobald, 4631 Solano Way, Fair Oaks, Calif. 95628 Filed Oct. 3, 1969, Ser. No. 863,607 Int. Cl. B23d 71 00 U.S. Cl. 29-79 10 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Various standardized shaped sections, each having a U shaped portion on one end and an angle formed on the opposite end for snapping together in constructing hollow files of a desired size and shape. Raised portions and projecting tabs at the section ends are two embodiments that prevent sliding when the sections are snapped together.

This invention relates to standardized sections of various shapes and sizes which easily snap together for manual construction, replacement, and alteration of hollow tiles.

Files have hitherto been manufactured as rigid solid bars. When any part of the rigid structure is broken or worn from usage, the whole tile has to be replaced. Also, in many instances the original purpose for purchasing a particular type, size, or shape les ceases to be important, and the file is ineiciently stored away or utilized for new usages which demand a different size or shape tile which may not be available for purchase. In addition to obviating the abovementioned problems encountered with conventional tiles, this invention allows the consumer to purchase standardized sections for constructing a tile having a size and shape to tit his personal needs.

Accordingly, a primary object of this invention is to provide standardized sections for manual construction of files to suit the personal taste and needs of consumers.

Another object of this invention is to provide a flexible hollow file capable of alteration.

A further object of this invention is to provide file sections that can be rapidly fastened together and taken apart with ease.

A still further object of this invention is to provide a file that can simultaneously file a plurality of geometrical contours in the object being tiled.

The above and other objects of this invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art after a consideration of the following detailed description of the various embodiments of this invention taken together with the accompanying drawing, in which:

FIG. l is an end view of a square hollow le;

FIG. 2 is an end view of a substantially at hollow tile;

FIG. 3 is an end view of a triangular hollow le and various shaped tile sections;

FIG. 4 is an end view of a circular hollow file and various shaped tile sections;

FIG. 5 is an end view of a circular le section with a Hat portion;

FIG. 6 is a section view taken on line 6 6 of FIG. 3 showing raised portions for preventing sliding;

FIG. 7 is a sectional view taken on line 7-7 of FIG. 3;

FIG. 8 is a blown up cross-sectional view of the raised portions shown in FIG. 7;

FIG. 9 is an embodiment of the fastened file section ends; and

FIG. l() is another embodiment of the fastened file section ends.

Referring to the drawing in greater detail, there is ice illustrated in FIG. l a square shaped hollow file 20 having four side sections 22 of equal size and shape. Each section 22 has one end 24 bent back in the form of a 45 angle and the other end in the form of a U shaped configuration 26, also bent back at a 45 angle. End 24 and U shaped configuration 26 are constructed so as to manually snap together. Teeth 28 projecting from both sides of each section 22 are conventional tile teeth used for wood and metal filing. Thus, two sides of an object may be squared off simultaneously by using teeth 28 on the inside of two adjacent sections 22. Also, a right angle groove may be tiled into an object by using teeth 28 on the outside of two adjacent sections 22.

FIG. 2 illustrates sections 22 snapped together with shorter sections 30 for constructing a substantially flat shaped hollow file 32. The individual tile sections are in various sizes for facilitating flexible le construction to meet the exact filing needs of a worker.

FIG. 3 illustrates a triangular shaped hollow le 34 having a base section 36 and shorter sections 38 and 40. Base section 36 has one end 42 bent back and the other end bent back in the form of a U shaped configuration 44, both endsV being bent back at the same angle. Section 38 has one end 46 bent back at an angle equal to that of end 42 and snapped together therewith, and has a U shaped configuration 48 on the other end. Section 40 has one end 50 bent back at an angle equal to that of U shaped configuration 48 and snapped together therewith, and has a U shaped configuration 52 on the other end bent back at an angle equal to that of end 42 and snapped together therewith. In addition to various sizes, the ends of the individual `tile sections are bent at various angles and combinations thereof for facilitating flexible le construction and interchangeability between different desired hollow tile shapes. In addition to filing angular grooves with the outer adjacent section surfaces, two sides of an object may be tiled in angular relationship simultaneously by using the inner adjacent section surfaces.

It should be noted that the file sections may be manufactured with various shapes formed out of the original flat surfaces for performing many different functions. For instance, base section 36 may be formed with a semicircular concave portion 53 for rounding off objects, for tiling at surfaces with longitudinal projections, or for creating rounded projections with adjacent horizontal surfaces. Section 38 may be formed with a convex portion 54 for tiling circular grooves. Section 40 may be formed with a small triangular portion 56 with angles other than those of triangular tile 34.

FIG. 4 illustrates a tubular shaped hollow tile 58 having curved sections 60, each having one end 62 bent perpendicular thereto and the other end in the form of a U configuration 64 also bent perpendicular thereto, the ends of adjacent sections being snapped together. As with triangular tile 34 in FIG. 3, sections 60 may be manufactured with various shapes such as the triangular portions 66 and 68 and the rounded portion 70. A further variation of a section shape is shown in FIG. 5 wherein section 6) has a protruding at portion 72.

Illustrated in FIGS. 3, 6, 7, and 8 are raised portions which prevent adjacent sections from sliding |with each other after being snapped together. FIG. 6 shows a plan view of raised portions 80 on the outside surface of bent end 42 of FIG. 3. FIG. 7 shows a cross-sectional view of the manner in which raised portions `80 on end 42 and on the surface of U shaped contiguration 52 are positioned to mate with each other to longitudinally lock adjacent sections into place after having been snapped together. Raised portions 80 are pointed in opposite directions on opposite ends of each adjacent section end to prevent movement in either direction. FIG. 8 is a blown up cross-sectional view of raised portions 80 on the left end of IFIG. 7 showing the bottom raised portions 80 locked against the top raised portions 80.

Another embodiment which prevents slippage between adjacent sections is illustrated in FIGS. `6 and 7. Tabs 90 at opposite ends of end 42 are bent perpendicular thereto. End 42 is snapped together with U shaped configuration 52 which fits between tabs 90 so that neither adjacent section can slide relative to the other.

Two additional embodiments of section ends for snapping together adjacent sections are illustrated in FIGS. 9 and 10. FIG. 9 shows a section 100 having an end in the form of a U shaped configuration 102 as in FIGS. 1 5, but with the outermost leg 103 bent slightly inward to exert enough pressure to tightly retain an end 104 of an adjacent section 106i without making it burdensome to pull end 104 from U shaped configuration 102. FIG. 10 shows section 100 having an end 110 bent perpendicular thereto with a U shaped configuration 112 formed at the end of end 110 and bent away from end 110 and section 100. The end 114 of adjacent section 106 is bent perpendicular thereto and has a tip 116 which is bent inward towards section 106 in such a manner that end 114 is retained within end 110 when sections 100 and 106 are snapped together and tip 116 mates with U shaped configuration 112. It is merely necessary to exert some pressure upwards on end 114 in order to separate sections 100 and 106.

While the preferred embodiments of this invention have been illustrated and described, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that changes and modifications may be resorted to without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

We claim:

1. A sectional hollow file construction for filing wood, metal, and the like, comprising a plurality of thin, longitudinal sections connected together forming a longitudinal hollow space therewithin, each of said sections having filing teeth on both sides thereof, a first bent end portion along the length on one end thereof, a second bent end portion along the length on the other end thereof, said second bent end portion being bent backward at two more points forming a U shaped configuration, each of said sections having said first bent end portion inserted within the groove of the U shaped configuration of said second bent end portion of an adjacent section and said second bent end portion engaging said first bent end portion of an adjacent section within the groove of the U shaped configuration of said second bent end portion of said section for snapping together said plurality of sections, and means engaging said first and second bent end portions for longitudinally locking said sections into position so that the ends along the width thereof are flush with each other and for preventing sliding and slippage during filing, filing being accomplished by using said filing teeth protruding into the longitudinal hollow space and said filing teeth on the outer surfaces of said plurality of sections selectively as desired, said tiling teeth on a plurality of said sections capable of being utilized simultaneously for filing.

2. The structure of claim 1, wherein each of said sections has a shape along the width thereof differing from that of the other of said sections.

3. The structure of claim 2, wherein said shape cornprises three adjacent gometrical forms for simultaneously filing said three adjacent geometrical forms into the object being worked on, for simultaneously filing more forms than said three adjacent geometrical forms by utilizing a plurality of said sections simultaneously, and for filing forms differing from the forms of said shape.

4. The structure of claim 1, wherein the shape along the width of said sections comprises a straight geometrical form.

5. The structure of claim 1, wherein the shape along the Width of one of said sections comprises a concave geometrical form for filing concavevand convex forms selectively. l

6. The structure of claim 1, wherein the shape along the width of one of said sections comprises a convex geometrical form for filing concave and convex forms selectively.

7. The structure of claim 1, wherein said means comprises a plurality of raised portions formed near the longitudinal ends of said sections protruding from the surfaces of said first and second bent end portions, the raised portions of said first bent end portion being located longitudinally adjacent to the raised portions of said second bent end portion when said first and second bent end portions are snapped together.

8. The structure of claim 1, wherein said means comprises a projection at each longitudinal end of said first bent end portion, said projections bent perpendicular to said first bent end portion for receiving said second bent end portion therebetween.

9. The structure of claim 1, wherein the inside width of the bottom of the groove of said U shaped configuraa tion is larger than that at the top for tightly retaining said first bent end portion within the groove and allowing manual separation by upward pressure exerted on said first bent end portion.

10. The structure of claim 1, wherein said U shaped configuration is bent away from said second bent end portion and said first bent end portion is f-urther bent at the tip thereof, both said U shaped configuration and said tip having the same iength and being bent at the same angle from said second and first bent end portions respectively for snapping together, said tip being held within the groove of said U shaped configuration because of the inability to slide out in the absence of an upward force applied to said first bent end portion.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,216,915 2/1917 Anderson 29-78 3,389,447 46/1968 Theobald et al. 29--78 FOREIGN PATENTS 1,876l l /1876 Great Britain. 26,410 7/ 1902 Switzerland.

HARRISON I.. HINSON, Primary Examiner Us. C1. X.R. 16-101, 24 

